March 14, 2019

Progress on my two main projects — Jasper Fforde’s Early Riser and Smock Madness — continues apace. I’m nearly to mid-foot on the latter and, in the former, our protagonist Charlie (whose gender I decided on page 70 I’d incorrectly assigned at the start of the novel, but whose pronouns I keep ascribing to my original assumption) has gotten stuck in the worst possible region to overwinter due to a fit of retributive pique.

I need to finish a complete pair of Smock Madnesses by late morning on Sunday in order to advance to the next round. I suppose it’s possible, particularly as Rudi is leaving early on Friday, but I’ll chalk it up as unlikely. I need only finish one by that time in order to qualify as a cheerleader and to keep receiving the patterns to knit along with at my glacial pace, which seems a far more plausible — and, frankly, pleasant — outcome.

We watched the film adaptation of The Hate U Give last night, which was perfectly fine (Rudi, who hadn’t read the book, liked it quite a bit), but it paled in comparison to the book. (I sometimes wonder why they bother trying.) It made me want to get started on Angie Thomas’ sophomore novel, On the Come Up, which Rudi gave me for my birthday and which is sitting temptingly on our coffee table just beyond my reach. But first I need to get past the roving gangsters and winter monsters and viral dreams of Wales in order to move on.

I’m also listening to two audiobooks. Questlove’s Creative Quest is what I listen to while I’m watching dishes, because I’ve discovered I’m prone to dozing off if I listen to him on the couch, no matter how interesting I find his thoughts on creativity. The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, a followup to Mackenzi Lee’s The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is much more suited to playing while I knit once I’ve tired of reruns of Agents of SHIELD and Miss Fisher for the night.

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what other people are reading and crafting.